The Prince of the Seas
by The World's Biggest Fangirl
Summary: Five year old Feferi Piexes steals a fish she really likes from an aquarium. Fast forward eleven years later, and the fish turns into a handsome prince who claims to be in love with her. But is there more to him than meets the eye? Eridan/Feferi, birthday gift for my tumblrstuck moirail johneggmcmuffin. tw: contains brief discussion of suicide.


"Feferi, I know that you really must like that fish, but is it really necessary to press your face against the glass in such a manner?"

Five year old Feferi Piexes ignored her teacher and giggled as she watches a single violet fish flit around in the aquarium tank.

"Feferi", Ms. Maryam tried again, louder this time," we really do need to go." The kindergartener in front of her let out a deep sigh before detaching her face from the glass and sadly walking away.

A week later, Feferi had persuaded her best friend Sollux to accompany her on a mission at the aquarium. Mr. Captor, both Sollux's father and the Peixes's chauffeur, agreed to drive them there. She clutched an empty ziploc bag in her little hand as she chattered on about the violet fish she'd seen. The black limousine eventually came to a stop at the curb in front of the aquarium, and the two elementary-aged children inside hopped out onto the pavement.

"He's this way, Sollux!" Feferi chirped as she dragged her friend through the double doors and down a hallway.

"Are you sure it's a he?" asked Sollux in his thick lisp, clearly nowhere near as enthusiastic or ecstatic as his friend. He scanned the aquarium for other people, but it was deserted. Thank goodness. Because, if they were caught, they would get in a lot of trouble.

"Positive!" The girl shimmied up the brick wall, motioning for Sollux to hold her steady once she had climbed up high enough to remove the lid from the violet fish's tank. Sighing, the young boy grabbed onto her waist to support her. "Thank you!" She dipped the ziploc bag into the tank water before slipping her hand in and gently grabbing the violet fish. Careful to not drop it, she placed the fish into the ziploc before sealing the zipper and shoving the plastic bag deep into the pocket of her pastel green raincoat. Re-covering the tank took a few seconds, climbing back down a few more.

"Let's get out of here!" hissed Sollux as his pale hand grabbed Feferi's. He shepherded her all the way to where his father was waiting in the parking lot. All the while, he repeated the phrase "Please don't catch us", under his breath. For the first half of the ride home, Feferi took the fish out of her pocket and talked to it, a cute little smile on her face. "I think I'll name him Eridan!" she exclaimed after a while, turning suddenly to Sollux. "What do you think?"

"I think that's a dumb name", Sollux proclaimed with a hint of jealousy in his voice.

"Sollux!" snapped an angry Feferi. She refused to take crap from anyone, not even her best friend. "Don't listen to him, Eridan. Your name is lovely", she cooed, returning her attention to the fish in her lap.

Eleven years later, Feferi sat in front of a desk, mounds of homework papers taking up any space that Eridan's fishtank normally left open. She chewed on her lip while using one hand to scrawl down the numbers that her other hand's calculator crunching produced on-screen. Eridan flitted around, his beady little eyes watching his beloved owner the entire time. Eventually, Feferi paused her diligent work in order to grab herself some lunch. She was in the hallway, heading towards the marble stairwell that led to the bottom floor and the kitchen, when the loud cracking sound of glass breaking reverberated from her open bedroom door.

Without even flinching, Feferi twirled around on the balls of her feet before running back into her room. A strange, completely nude boy her age lay on his stomach in the pile of soggy papers and glass shards that now covered her desk. He was bleeding from a multitude of scratches on his pale, freckled skin, the red substance mixing in with the water to create what were morbidly fascinating red clouds.

Completely ignoring the fact that most people would either be standing there in shock or demanding answers, she rushed right up to him and gently tapped his shoulder to check whether he was conscious or not. He lifted his head a bit, his violet eyes peering at her for a few seconds before recognition appeared in his gaze and he sat up jerkily, tearing his wounds open even more. Feferi quickly avoided looking anywhere below his neck as she exclaimed, "Careful! Please don't hurt yourself!" The boy blinked a few times before muttering the first thing he ever said to her-

"Sorry, Fef."

She wondered how this strange boy knew her name, but her first priority was to clean and bandage his wounds. "Will you come with me, please?" I'd like to fix you up…" she asked calmly, in order to not scare him.

The boy nodded and gently pushed himself off of the table before wandering towards her bathroom, blood dripping down and staining her pastel yellow carpet. Feferi followed after him and motioned for him to sit on the toilet lid once she had made it into the bathroom. He complied, and she dug her First Aid kit out of the linen closet. She wet a cloth with disinfectant before rubbing it all over his wounds. A slew of cusswords flew out of his mouth as he bit his lip, in pain. She hushed him as she pulled out a bandage roll and set to work. After she had finished, she spun around and grabbed one of her it at him, she said, "Put this on, please."

He begrudgingly pulled the pink garment on. "Let me run and grab you some real clothes. I'll be right back!" she exclaimed, running out of her room and down the stairs. A few minutes later, she had gone to the Captor house next door, begged Sollux to give her some of his clothes, and made it back to her bathroom.

Taking the clothes from her and tucking them under his arm, the boy got on one knee and kissed her hand. "Thank you, Fef", he whispered as her face heated up.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"You don't recognize me?" He looked hurt.

"…No, I don't. I'm so sorry…." Feferi trailed off.

"I'm Eridan", he exclaimed. Her eyes widened.

"Eridan? But…. You're a fish!"

"Only because of a curse. But the curse is lifted now, thanks to you. I owe you so much!" Eridan kissed her hand over and over again.

"A curse? How did I lift a curse?" asked a confused and intrigued Feferi. He chose to delay answering her by slowly moving his lips up her bare arm, planting tiny little kisses on her skin. Feferi felt her face heat up even more. "E-Eridan, could you please not-"

He stood up suddenly. "An evil witch cast a spell on me and turned me into a fish. The only way to break the curse was to fall in love. And it was my love for you that saved me!"

"Oh… I guess that makes sense… How about I leave so you can get changed?" asked Feferi, backing up a bit. She was obviously flustered.

"Alright, princess", replied Eridan, bowing with a flourish.

Once outside the bathroom, Feferi leaned against the wall of her bedroom and exhaled. Eridan, if he really was Eridan, was so… dreamy. With red hair, glittering green eyes, a freckled face, and the apparent ability to shower her in affection in the most romantic ways possible, he was like a fairytale prince. And if there was one thing Feferi loved as a little girl besides fish, it was fairy tales.

Eridan came out of the bathroom a few minutes later in Sollux's beat-up hoodie and jeans. It was an un-flattering outfit on probably anyone else (including its owner; Feferi had to admit this but it was true). However, it made Eridan look just as princely as before.

"If I do recall, you were on your way to procure yourself some lunch, correct? Do allow me to escort you." He offered her his arm, and she couldn't help but giggle before linking their arms together.

Feferi was surprised to see none other than Sollux waiting in the kitchen. When he saw Eridan with her, he raised his eyebrows in an angry and suspicious manner. "Feferi, who is this?" he asked.

"He's Eridan", she replied, searching his facial features for a reaction.

"You're telling me that this boy… Is your fish?" Sollux burst out laughing, his body bending in half as he shook from chuckle after chuckle. Eridan looked about ready to murder the other boy, so Feferi made sure to tighten her grip on him and swirl her fingers on his bare arm in a soothing motion.

"He is, I swear! Now, can you please let us get some lunch?" she asked this in a manner that, while calm and polite, also conveyed a demanding tone. Her childhood best friend sighed and straightened himself back up.

"Fine. As long as I can eat with you two."

"This asshole is not eating with us!" Eridan exclaimed, sliding his arm out of Feferi's crooked elbow and stepping forwards.

"Wanna go, fishdick?" Sollux smirked as he cracked his knuckles.

"Of course", retorted Eridan. "…If you're ready to get your sorry excuse of an ass kicked."

"Please don't fight! I don't want you two to hurt yourselves!" Feferi begged. They both groaned, but begrudgingly backed off. All during lunch, they constantly looked up from their respective peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to give the other death stares over Feferi's head. The girl was, of course, too absorbed in blabbering on about her swim team's next meet in order to notice.

After lunch, the three of them went outside to soak their feet in the Peixes family's Olympic sized pool. Eridan and Sollx got into another argument and, at some point, Sollux ended up pushed into the pool. Feferi was quick to calm down the dripping wet and immensely angry Captor before he could commit murder.

"Sollux, would you mind leaving for a bit? I'd like to be able to get to know Eridan without his stopping every few seconds to have a screaming match with you. I'll owe you one later!" begged Feferi. She grinned when he reluctantly agreed. "…Oh, could Eridan please borrow your swimsuit? I think swimming together would be a great way to get to know each other."

"Fine", grumpily replied Sollux. He was obviously jealous.

Fifteen minutes later, Feferi was waiting by the side of the pool for Eridan to come out, rubbing sunscreen on her brown legs. By the time Eridan got outside- It had been a while since he last wore clothes, and everyone knows that getting them on is the easy part- Feferi had hopped into the pool and was swimming laps fervently. When she noticed Eridan, she grinned and called for him to join her.

He hopped in and began to haphazardly swim towards her. "God, swimming with legs is so weird… It's been forever since I last did it."

"How long is 'forever'?" asked Feferi, trying to start a conversation.

"…About five hundred years, give or take a few", admitted Eridan after a long pause and some internal debate as to whether or not he should release this information.

She giggled. "So, you're an old man?"

He began to flounder about, losing focus on his swimming out of shock. "I am not an old man!"

Feferi was over in a flash and held him steady. "If you insist, Eridan. Five hundred years as a fish must've been fun!" She smiled at him.

"More like boring", replied Eridan, pouting and resting his head on her shoulder.

She blushed a bit as she played with his ginger hair. "How did you meet the witch that turned you into a fish, anyways?"

He froze, and stared at her in utter silence.

Feferi bit her lip. "Do you… not want to talk about it?" she asked worriedly. Eridan nodded. "Alright, I can understand. It must've been difficult, huh?" He nodded again.

"…You really are something, Fef", Eridan said after another long pause. "I don't regret falling in love with you one bit."

"Why are you in love with me? I'm nothing special…"

"You're plenty special, Fef", Eridan assured her. "You're kind, selfless, sympathetic, understanding, cheerful, adorable, and beautiful all at once."

"If you say so…." She decided to be a bit bold and kiss the top of his head as a sign of appreciation. Eridan grinned at her. They swam together to the deep end of the pool before floating on their backs, side by side, fingers clasped together. "Tell me about your life before you were a fish", Feferi said suddenly.

"…Well, I was a prince; the heir of a large empire, actually…."

Feferi laughed at something Eridan had said moments before, an ice cream cone clutched in her hand. It had been two weeks since Eridan's transformation, and she had gladly spent most of her free time since them with him. And over those two weeks, she'd fallen for him more and more each day.

Eridan paused his story about his cousin Cronus for a few moments, long enough to peck a giggling Feferi on the lips and take a few licks of his ice cream cone. "He was really quite a douchebag", he continued, "but he was also a skilled fighter and made our various conquests much easier-"

"Conquests?" Feferi interrupted him, voice full of surprise. She swapped her focus from listening and eating her ice cream to staring at him.

"…Yes. I should have told you this from the beginning, but… The point is, I was turned into a fish because of an old hag enacting revenge on me for takin' over her kingdom." Eridan was unable to make eye contact with her throughout the entire confession, worrying Feferi. On top of that, his countenance, which had been elated one moment before, was not dejected.

She should have pressed him further, she really should have. Years later, even, Feferi still immensely regretted her decision to let it go, to ignore it as nothing. For the two weeks after that incident, Eridan became increasingly more depressed and distant with every day. Sometimes he'd lock himself in the bathroom and cry. Feferi was worried about him, naturally, but he would just ignore her if she asked him what was wrong. Eventually, she decided to ask Sollux what to do.

Feferi rushed across the blacktop leading from her house to Sollux's, seemingly unaware of the fact that the soles of her bare feet were being scorched by the 96 degree sun-soaked pavement. She knocked at the door to the Captor home, but no one was there. The youngest Peixes had just begun to turn on her heel when she spotted something out of the corner of her eye.

It was a kitchen knife glinting in the sunlight, and said kitchen knife was clutched in the hand of none other than Eridan. He was walking towards her, the blade extended in front of him in a position prime for stabbing and slashing. Eridan seemed in a trance, face blank except for the telltale signs of recent crying; red eyes, dried tears stuck to his cheeks, and disheveled hair.

"E-Eridan?" she asked as he was closer, only about three feet away. He froze in place at the sound of her voice. He froze in place at the sound of her voice, and didn't move for what was probably only five seconds, but felt like an eternity to the on-edge Feferi. Finally, his eyes trailed down to look at the knife in-hand, and he threw it down onto the pavement after a few moments of consideration. Hands and knees shaking, he took a step forward before collapsing onto her.

"I'm… sorry Fef, I'm so sorry… I didn't tell you the whole story from the beginning", said Eridan in a melancholy whisper. Feferi was reluctant to comfort him at first; after all, he may or may not have just attempted to murder her, but eventually, her feelings for him won our and she ran her fingers through his red locks in a soothing gesture.

After a few minutes of this, he had calmed down quite a lot and sat down on the pavement, gently pulling Feferi down with him. "I'll admit that I wasn't the best person in the time before I was cursed", was what started his explanation. "I was a haughty, hateful prince who let his power and expertise with weaponry go to his head. I conquered kingdom after kingdom, slaughtering innocent person after innocent person. Eventually, a witch placed a spell on me. I was to become a fish, unable to die no matter what. I'd be stuck as a fish until I fell in love. After that, I'd have two months to either kill my love and finally be able to age and die, or not kill them and be stuck living forever."

Feferi looked at him in utter shock. "Eridan, I-"

"I couldn't bear the thought of living forever without you!" Eridan cried out, interrupting her. "To watch you grow old and weak before dying, leaving me to an eternity of pain…. I didn't want that! So I decided that killing you and then myself would be the best, most painless action. It was very selfish of me, and I'm sorry I ever tried it. I'd understand if you hate-"

She put a finger to his lips. "It's alright, Eridan. Let's go home and we can discuss what to do next…" Feferi leaned forwards and kissed his forehead.

His hands reached out and gently played with the strands of her raven hair. "We should go home…" After a few more moments of holding one another, they both rose to their feet.

They walked hand in hand back to Feferi's room and sat on the edge of her bed, thighs touching. "I-I'd like to not die until I'm old, Eridan…." admitted Feferi in a whisper. "I'd prefer living the rest of my life with you than dying together now…. There has to be a cure to your spell!" Feferi leapt to her feet, suddenly energized by her idea.

Eridan looked up at her hopefully. "Do you think so?"

"I'll bet! That way, you don't have to suffer anymore." She stroked the hand still grasped in hers.

"Then I say we do it." Smiling at one another, the two walked over to Feferi's laptop in what was the start of the adventure of a lifetime.


End file.
